The Crimson Headhunter
by Dragontalon 486
Summary: Takes place during the Spartan-Ops mini series. A lone Spartan IV arrives on Infinity As the only member of Fireteam Crimson. Follow her story as she discovers more about herself while settling past affairs with the Covenant, earning the nickname "The Crimson Headhunter" by UNSC and "The Crimson Demon" by the Covenant.
1. Prologue: Homebound

The Crimson Headhunter

Prologue: Homebound

" _I've always hated these skin tight mesh suits."_ Alayna thought to herself as she sat in the troop bay of the pelican gunship as it rocketed up through the atmosphere. The only accompanying sound she heard was the occasional sound of her ears popping. She continued to sit there, looking down at a holo-picture of her old squad, the last squad she would ever work with voluntarily. She brushed her hand over the picture and stared at it thoughtfully. A squad of ODSTs posing in ridiculous ways just before they would load up into their pods and drop to a planet's surface. Only that time, Six ODSTs would go on the mission and only one would return. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, putting the picture away before standing up and stretching her arms.

The pelican rendezvous with others as they made their way to the flagship of the UNSC fleet, the _Infinity_. Alayna entered the cockpit for a moment as the pilots began their approach vector.

"Well there she is, have you ever seen anything so beautiful?" the pilot asked. Alayna rolled her eyes at him. The _Infinity_ may have been an impressive sight to most, but not for her.

"Doesn't matter to me…" Alayna said with a blank expression. The pilot looked back as she walked back into the troop bay.

"Sheesh, what's with her…?" the pilot asked the co-pilot. He just shrugged. The pilot looked back to the front and keyed the radio.

"Infinity Control, this is Raider 57. Requesting docking permission, over."

" _Raider 57, this is Infinity Control. Permission Granted, land at hanger bay 7, over."_

"Solid copy Infinity Control, Raider 57, out." The pilot finished, then looked back to the troop bay.

"We're preparing to land on _Infinity_ now Spartan, strap yourself in." Alayna let out a sigh before looking back to the pilots and nodded her head.

' _Here I go…'_ she thought as she sat down and fastened herself in the seat. The Pelican flew into the hanger bay and turned 180 degrees, deployed its landing gear and touched down. Alayna unfasten herself and stood up from her seat as the dropship door opened. As she walked down the ramp, she looked around, unimpressed at the sights around her.

"Fireteam Majestic Commander on deck!" She heard a voice order off to the left of her. She looked over and saw another group of Spartans stand at attention and saluting a female Spartan. Alayna quickly recognized her and she gave a small smirk.

' _I hope that dumbass didn't try and flirt with her…'_ she thought as Commander Palmer and Fireteam Majestic began to walk her way. Alayna stood at attention and saluted as Commander Palmer glanced her way and stopped for a second.

"Finally, someone with respect…" Palmer returned the salute to Alayna. "My only question is what fireteam are you and where's the rest of it…" she finished, her eyes narrowed. Alayna seemed unphased by her gaze.

"Spartan Sykes, Fireteam Crimson and you're looking at it." She answered.

"You're the only member…?" Palmer asked, doubt lacing her words. "How?"

"Don't ask me, Commander. I just point and shoot."

"Wow, someone sounds like a badass…" Palmer said sarcastically. "We'll see how far that attitude will carry you here." She finished as she waved for Alayna to follow them. She waited until fireteam Majestic passed her by, then fell in-tow behind them. Commander Palmer was explaining how Spartans were going to conduct themselves while on this ship while not on missions, but Alayna tuned her out half way as she glanced down at the deck, a hint of anger tracing in her eyes.

"Um, excuse me…?" a voice questioned, snapping her back into reality. She looked up and noticed a male Spartan was now next to her. It was one of Majestic.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I'm Spartan Thorne. Are you really the only member of Fireteam Crimson?"

Alayna rolled her eyes, she was already getting sick of hearing that question.

"Weren't you listening? I told the Commander that I'm the only one. A quick look around would of already answered your question moron." She muttered quietly to him. He was about to ask something else but someone clearing their throat loudly caused them both to look up and see Commander Palmer glaring at them.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was boring the both of you with my instructions. Maybe you can explain the rest of this since you both already seem to know everything about what goes on here…" Palmer said to them, sarcasm and authority dripping off her words. This caught everyone off guard. "No? then shut up and show me that you're really disciplined enough to call yourselves Spartans…" she finished in a half yell.

"Yes Ma'am." They both replied. Palmer turned back around and continued to lead them to S Deck. Alayna turned and glared angrily at Thorne before continuing to follow them.

"Alright, that explains everything. Do you children have any questions…" Palmer asked. No one replied.

"Good, then get to your living quarters and get ready for slipspace. You'll receive orders from there." She ordered before turning and heading to the bridge. Both fireteams saluted and began going their separate ways, but before Alayna could move in the direction of her living quarters, Thorne walked up to her.

' _Oh great, here we go again…'_ she thought as she narrowed her eyes and wore a blank expression.

"Spartan Sykes? I just wanted to apologize for back there…" he said sincerely.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I forgive you…" she dismissed him quickly with a wave of her hand, clearly not caring about what he said. Now he was getting irritated.

"Look," he began sternly. "I just wanted to know why you're the only member of your fireteam, I originally heard that every team was going to consist of at least four members, and you're attitude is starting to piss me off!"

"Well get in line." She fired back, irritated as well. "I don't know why I'm the only member of my team. Maybe I'm just more expendable in the military's eyes or maybe I'm a test program for lone Spartan operatives to see the viability of it, I don't know. If I knew the answer I would have told Commander Palmer, but I don't and as for my attitude, that is nothing you need to concern yourself with. I'm here to do one thing and one thing only; kill Covenant." She finished as she spun around on her feet and walked away quickly.

"That was really smooth Thorne." Madsen said jokingly as Thorne turned around and face the rest of Majestic.

"Shut up Madsen…" Thorne muttered as they walked into their living quarters.

Alayna walked into her living quarters and just as she predicted, there were four bunks in the walls as well as two draw footlockers under each bunk. There were also a couple of desks with holoterminals on them but for the most part everything was plain and boring. Not that she cared, being a former ODST meant that she could get by with minimal extras. As she sat down at one of the desks and began to massage her forehead with her right hand, an order came over the loudspeaker of the ship.

" _Attention all hands, prep for slipspace jump."_

Alayna sighed as she grabbed the holo-picture of her squad out of her pocket and looked at it.

" _I promise you all, I'll find the Covenant bastard who took you all away and I will avenge you…"_ she thought to herself as she began to grit her teeth together. She clicked a button and a holographic version of her old team's emblem appeared and spun clockwise. She took one more deep breath and placed her head down.

Meanwhile on the bridge of the _Infinity_ , Commander palmer walked on to the bridge to hear the Ship's AI Roland explaining the Covenant ship formations around Requiem to Captain Lasky. She briefly smiled for a moment. Captain Lasky was one of the only few people that she respected immensely and after meeting multiple Spartan Fireteams with varying amounts of respect or disrespect in her eyes she needed to remind herself of that fact but at the same time she also needed to give an update and receive her orders to pass down to her "underlings".

"Commander Palmer." Captain Lasky greeted before Roland flickered away. "Did things get boring in Spartan-town…?" he asked, a minor hint of a joke in his voice. she sighed, not wanting to remember some of the things that happened back there but quickly recovered and greeted him back.

"Captain Lasky, You know I come up here for my peace and quiet…" she started before she leaned against the holomap that was showing Requiem. "And boy do I need it this time…" she finished.

"That bad, huh?"

"Sometimes I wonder how half these people even passed the criteria to become Spartans, but today, I was really having trouble telling if I was in the company of true warriors or a damn day-care unit." He let out a small chuckle at her musings but the look on her face show that she wasn't joking.

"I just don't know if any of them are truly ready for this mission." She said thoughtfully. Lasky nodded in understanding. There weren't many times that she'd show it but as much as she put up a hard façade, she did care about the people under her command in her own way.

"I know it can be hard sometimes but you just have to trust that they can get the job done Sarah." He told her. Palmer looked toward him in surprise, it was very rare for him to address her by her first name as it was unprofessional but she knew that he meant no disrespect when he did that. He was just try to bring the point home to her. She gave him a small nod.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked, getting down to business.

"This comes down from the top, they want you mobilized and deployed to the surface by 0530." He explained.

' _That fast…'_ Palmer thought to herself.

"We've waited six months, I recommend that we put the fireteams through the war games for forty-eight hours…" she began.

"Navy disagrees with Spartans this time. They want you ready. Now." He stated firmly. Palmer nodded, she understood that this was beyond the Captain's control.

"Yes sir." She said while saluting. He returned the salute and she made for the door off the bridge, but stopped for a moment.

"Roland?" she called. The AI materialized on the pedestal nearest to her.

"Yes Commander Palmer?"

"I need you to send me the roster data for Fireteam Crimson."

"Yes Commander." He said, "It seems there is only one Spartan assigned to that team, Spartan Sykes." Roland explained while showing her picture on the screen in front of Palmer. Captain Lasky looked up towards her.

"Only one, that's a bit unusual isn't it?" he asked. Palmer nodded.

"Very. Roland can you send me all data on Spartan Sykes to my datapad?" the AI began to swipe his left hand, signaling that he was attempting connection to her datapad, but paused for a moment.

"Most data on Spartan Sykes is classified. I'm unable to finish your request without approval from the Captain."

"What the hell?" Commander Palmer asked to no one in particular.

"Why is she so shrouded in mystery?" Lasky asked, clearly more confused than Palmer.

"I don't know, but I want to find out now…" she answered.

Alayna still had her head down on the desk she was sitting at. A light snore came from her as she was clearly asleep. Soon she woke to the sound of the bosun's whistle sounding across the living quarters.

" _Attention all Spartans, report to S Deck and prepare to armor up."_ Roland's voice ordered. Alayna looked at her holo-picture for a brief moment and placed on the desk. She then opened the door and fell in-tow with all the other Spartans as they walked to the armor bay. Each Spartan began to break off and stand in from of a circular device that would aid in putting their armor on.

"Ladies… and other Spartans, listen up." Commander Palmer's voice called out across the armor bay. She was in her silver Scout armor minus her helmet. Alayna's skin suit began to materialize a steel colored mesh padding to protect her as she stepped up to the ring and took hold of the handles. Mechanical whirling began to sound as the mechanisms began to assemble the armor over her feet and legs in the LG-50 Bulk Leggings up to her waist. Around her wrists, XV-27 Shifting wristguards with the SLID markings

"Your new workplace is a planet first discovered by Humanity six months ago call Requiem. Some of the old hand know what you're in for, the rest of you you're due for an education."

Alayna closed her eyes as she felt her body turn around counter-clockwise and lean back. The ground opened up and the back portion of her breastplate rose up and connected to the front portion. As she was brought back to a standing position on the ring, her breastplate was visible. The skull and two lightning bolt made it clear that it was the Orbital breastplate with the markings of AEON. She looked across the way and found herself staring a Thorne as he was being put into his Recruit armor. The mechanical whirling resumed as her shoulder pad were assembled, the left pad being a Pathfinder with standard markings and on her right was a Raider with the DDST markings. The final piece of her armor was her Rogue helmet with FCUS markings being lowered down over her head.

"The eggheads upstairs want to set up research bases but before they can do that, we need to fend off some Covenant squatters."

Once secured her heads-up display came to life and began running diagnostics of her armor. Once everything was green status the ring's fasteners unclamped from her and she walked forward a couple of steps, moving her arms around to test flexibility. Satisfied with her flexibility she turned to the engineers who were helping her. They looked at her with a little bit of fear. Her golden/orange visor making up most of her helmet gave her an almost synthetic look to her and some of the engineers whom had been to Requiem were almost reminded of the Prometheans. Her steel colored armor with brick red secondary highlights didn't help much either.

"The Covies, they believe that this is the home of one of their gods. The way I see it, if those freaks want to meet God, it's our duty to help them along." She finished. When she finished, she spotted Alayna in her armor but one thing that she noticed that made her eyes widen slightly. There was a small emblem located on her breastplate in the vicinity of her heart, a Black and gray shield with an orange lion clinging to it. That's when it clicked in her mind, she knew where she was from and what ODST unit she was a part of before.

"OORAH!" all the Spartans cheered once, then they began to move quickly to the armory to grab their weapons. Alayna grabbed her primary loadout of a DMR, an assault rifle which she slung on her back, two frag grenades and as much ammo as was authorized for her to carry for one mission. She then went to the last station and it installed her Armor Ability. Once it was locking place, her suit began a secondary diagnostic test.

"Promethean Vision successfully installed." Her suit chirped in a synthetic voice. Once all the Spartans were outfitted with their loadouts they began to make their way to the hanger bays where each Fireteam began loading up onto the Pelican Dropships. Alayna ran over to her Dropship, Raider 57, sat down in one of the seats and fastened herself in. Once she was inside, the dropship door retracted and closed with a pressurized seal. Now all she could do is wait. It was moments like these that reminded her of being an ODST inside one of those pods just waiting to drop. Now she was a Spartan IV. The one thing that never changed was the small bit of anxiety that came with the calm before the storm, a storm Alayna would have to face herself.

On the bridge, Roland blinked on and saluted the Captain.

"Sir, we are beginning our drop out of slipspace."

"Very good Roland."

The ship emerged from slipspace and was immediately rattled, the sound of metal twisting sounding all around them."

"Status!" Captain Lasky ordered.

"It's not us Captain, we emerged from slipspace and ripped through a Covenant ship." Roland responded.

"Damage assessment?"

"Minor Shield damage but no damage to the hull, no causalities reported either Captain. Not that I can speak for the Covenant though." Roland responded. Lasky nodded.

"Lieutenant Austen, the word is given." He ordered. The undersection of the _Infinity_ opened up and began to drop its ten frigate escort into space. As the ships came online after being dropped the moved into a diversionary pattern, firing at the Covenant ship in the vicinity. With the diversion in place, a sound played across the hanger as the doors opened.

" _Light is Green, all dropships launch!"_ came a voice on the radios. The Pelican dropships launched with their Broadsword escort following close behind. Alayna felt the Pelican launch and she steeled herself as they plummeted down to the planet. Her Pelican began picking up speed as three Covenant Seraphs lunged theirs ships at her, firing their plasma cannons.

" _This is Raider 57, we are under attack by three seraphs and need immediate assistance, over."_

" _Raider 57, this is Broadsword wing Theta, we copy and are en route, ETA: momentarily, over."_

Alayna closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths to try and calm herself down. She heard two explosions and glance towards the ramp.

" _Raider 57, two bogeys down, third one fleeing. You're clear, over."_

" _Solid copy Broadsword wing Theta, Out."_ The pilot said over the radio, then turned to the open door and yelled, "Brace yourself Spartan, we're entering the access corridor!" with that, they started hitting turbulence, Alayna felt herself get thrown around in her harness but she was used to it. A few moments passed and the turbulence ceased. Alayna opened her eyes, unfastened her harness, stood up and walked into the cockpit. She looked up and saw the sky was covered with metal-plating as far as the horizon and down to the ground was a sandy desert.

' _Just what the hell kinda planet is this…?'_ she shook her head to clear the thought away. That wasn't her immediate concern. She walked back into the troop bay and grabbed her DMR, switched off the safety and chambered the first round of the magazine as the ramp opened up.

"Alright, I'm Alayna Sykes and I'm ready to rain death on the Covenant, so says the last surviving member of 'The Shield of New Mombasa'." She muttered under her breath as the dropship came to a hover and moved closer to the ground. She disembarked from the Pelican and readied her DMR and scanned her surroundings, waiting for her orders. One thing that she never counted on was that her life, having changed so much, was about to change again forever…

A/N: Hey everyone, Dragontalon 486 here and this is another idea I've been wanting to write out. I know most people don't like Spartan Ops (or halo 4 in general) but I thought it was a very interesting idea, being able to make your own Spartan and going through a story that was outside of Master Chief. The only two thing I didn't like about it were the fact that 343 abandoned it themselves because I really would of like the see a season two of it, and secondly that the only way you can play it is if you have Xbox Live Gold… anyway, I wanted to address some things before I end this chapter. First and for most, I know that Fireteam Crimson has four members, however I'm changing it around for two reasons; first, when I completed it the first time on legendary, I was alone and it made it feel more special that way. Secondly if you know about the halo lore then the term "headhunter" should make more sense. Two, this story will follow the level of the campaign as a templet but I will take a more creative as I try to imagine what a novelized version of the first season would be, (and yes I know that this has been done multiple times before, if you don't like it then don't read it.) third, in regards to my other story, _I will never be far away_ , I have not abandoned it and will continue it soon but I feel that I have to data dump some of my other story ideas to get back on track. For any of you that are writers out there, I'm sure you have those moments too (or am I the only freak out there with twenty different story ideas floating around at once, jk), Fourth I know that I may have used some terms wrong in the description of some things, that is because I don't know what terms they are known by in the halo universe. If anybody knows the terms of can share where the terms are located, please leave them in a review or PM me. If you guys enjoyed this the please like and/or comment in a review, constructive criticism is welcome (I mean how can I improve my skills if I don't hear it otherwise) but destructive criticism and senseless bashing is not. Until next time…

Dragontalon 486 signing off.

" _See you all Starside."_


	2. Update

**Update** **-Please read and I'm sorry in advance…**

Hey everyone, Dragontalon 486 here and I am so sorry to bring this bad news but I feel that something has to be said, I was just scared of the response. I am having to walk away from writing Fanfiction right now. After I left the army, I felt different from before and I didn't know what to think, but then just a short time ago, I received some really bad news; My Mother, who has been my role model for my entire life and started me into the fun of writing, was diagnosed with two different types of cancer. This has led me to depression. I know this isn't what you all want to hear but I've tried to continue writing under these circumstances but sometimes it's just a huge battle for me to even get up some mornings. I apologize that this has happened but I feel like if I want to get back to my dream of making writing that people will love and do love, I have to sort this out, so I'll be out of writing until I work through this. I ask only that you all please understand and I hope that I can get back into all your good graces when I do return. I hope that one day I'll see you all starside again…

Dragontalon 486 signing off for a while… :'(


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